Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Rteacher]

It's on PBS on-line (so there's a lot of commentary with it ...)
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/nyphil/index.html

Some interesting footage from the "hermit nation", though - especially the classroom scenes ...

The program is in three parts and lasts a little more than an hour.

The first one mainly gives a lot of background and shows the playing of the national anthems.

The next two are the orchestra's performances of Dvorak symphanies No. 8 and No 9 ("From the New World") and Gershwin's "An American in Paris".

The concert was broadcast live throughout North Korea, and reportedly was very well received (though the official media downplayed it.)

[Smee]

The whole thing is despicable.

I'm sure it was broadcast live . . . just not sure who watched it.



Played off as the American pigs coming to pay tribute to the glorious Kim Jong-il, I'm sure.

Not sure if you've read any of the garbage coming out of the mouth of the music director, but it's worth a look.

http://freekorea.us/2008/02/08/the-morally-retarded-lorin-maazel/

http://freekorea.us/2008/02/21/the-morally-retarded-lorin-maazel-part-2/

[endo]

I wonder how much rice rations were cut back to host the orchestra's performances for three days?

[Rteacher]

I think this program significantly helped promote western culture in a country where the masses have been shielded from it.

Not only was it televised all over North Korea, but it also was broadcast on radio - so even the poorest people could hear it.

The North Korean diplomat who arranged it said he wants to bring in Eric Clapton next to expose Korean people to that aspect of western pop culture (blues-rock?)

Although the ordinary folks in NK have been culturally isolated, Kim Jong-il's own son - educated in Switzerland - is reportedly a big Clapton fan.

I guess Clapton (at age 62) is not that fired-up to perform there, but once enough political progress is made, I bet some big rock and pop concerts will happen - maybe another "Live Aid" (though funds raised are always ripped-off by shady promoters and non-profit groups...)

[endo]

History people!


The North Koreans have hosted international events (ping pong events and World Youth Games) in the past, and all it sums up to is a further drain on the North Korean economy and less food for its people.



These cultural exchanges sound good on paper, but if you look at it from a historical perspective they haven't done much to change the system in North Korea.

Pyongyang likes to put these shows on from time to time, but they really only benifit the elites.

I'm staying sceptical on this one.

[Rteacher]

Yeah, but rock music has proven to inspire cultural revolution among young people (eg: Billy Joel in Soviet Russia - after Leonard Bernstein helped thaw the cold war some years earlier ...)

The New York Philharmonic started with the national anthems, followed by a couple classical numbers, the jazzy "An American in Paris", and the final encore was the Korean folk classic, "Arirang", which of course was very appreciated by that audience.

Now they may be ready for rock (or at least blues music...)

[CeleryMan]

Lil man upstaged LMB's inauguration...

[chris_J2]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=27oCLrSzDLQ

^ New York Philharmonic Plays Arirang in DPRK North Korea

[agoodmouse]

The PBS videos, at least the ones I tried viewing, are inaccessible and give an error saying they're not accessible outside the U.S.

[Rteacher]

I guess I got lucky - I saw most of the concert yesterday (from Korea) on the same link that's now only good in the U.S.

Sorry about that - I'll try to find a link that works here - it was carried live by MBC.

OK - the New York Philharmonic's website http://nyphil.org/ will have the video beginning March 4 (and it didn't mention it being restricted - have to wait and see...)

(Kim Jong-il probably did try to upstage the inauguration, but he had to make some key concessions in terms of allowing western cultural propaganda to be widely broadcast in NK.)